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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (9812)	11/27/1999 1:03:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

India PharmaLine - News story of the week Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (DRL) acquires American Remedies DRL has entered into an agreement with the promoters of south India-based American Remedies Ltd (ARL) to acquire their controlling stake in the firm. DRL will pick up 45% stake in ARL at a price of Rs175 each. DRL stands to gain in many ways. The combined market share in domestic formulations will jump to 2.44%, which will catapult DRL's position in domestic formulation market to fifth position. ARL's product portfolio complements DRL and the combined field-force (from 550MRs to 950 post acquisition) will have a larger basket of product portfolio to cater to the market. However the major area of concern is the profitability of ARL, its 800 employees which come along with ARL and high interest cost (56% of operating profit). Other stories Hoechst sells Mulund unit to Nicholas, completes asset restructuring Hoechst Marion Roussel (Hoechst) has sold its manufacturing facility at Mulund (northeastern suburbs of Mumbai) to Nicholas Piramal India (Nicholas) for a consideration of Rs120mn. The deal includes 16,824 square meters of land, its plant and machinery and also the executives in the transfer of assets. Hoechst has already sold its Thane plant to Novartis Enterprise Ltd for the consideration of nearly Rs100mn. Now with the sale of Mulund unit, Hoechst has shelved off its all high cost-manufacturing units and workforce and shifted to Ankleshwar and Goa. Neuland Labs enters into equity alliance with Inter Pharma, Europe Neuland Laboratories, a Hyderabad based bulk drug manufacturing company has decided to place additional 1.1mn equity shares (20% of equity) with Inter Pharma Inc, a European pharmaceutical company. The shares are being placed at $5 per share (nearly 25% premium to the current market price). The stock currently trades at Rs180. The proceeds of the issue will be used both to repay high cost debts and expand the manufacturing facility. Besides the company will get access to regulated but high margin market of Europe and US. Major Pharmaceutical Alliance formed Eight pharma giants with a market capitalization of over Rs250bn join hands to form Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA). These companies, which collectively represent over 26% of the domestic market, are Cipla, Alembic Chemicals, Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin Labs, Nicholas Piramal, Ranbaxy, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Wockhardt. Novartis acquires Optrex, enters in high margin OTC segment Novartis India has acquired ophthalmic solutions Clearine from Optrex India. Clearine, a combination of naphazoline and boric acid, is a Rs30-40mn brand. Novartis has recently setup a new consumer healthcare unit to handle over-the-counter (OTC) products. With the alignment of new marketing setup for OTC products, Novartis India is all set to foray into this high margin OTC segment. Fresenius may acquire Core Healthcare Fresenius AG, Germany, a DM7.4bn pharmaceutical MNC has emerged front runner for possible change of management in Core Healthcare (Core). The Ahmedabad based company, burdened with huge debt exceeding Rs10bn has no option but to look for the possible successor in consultation with financial institutions with ICICI as the lead financial institution. Special Feature Future cure through E-health If it is possible to shop, to handle finances and to access news online, will online healthcare be far behind? E-health is the latest frontier for Internet and is possibly the most challenging, considering the complexity of the healthcare industry. Where does Internet fit in? The Net can link up patients, doctors, chemist shops, and laboratories thus, streamlining a lot of paperwork and saving administrative costs. Online drug shopping is another big area. Afterall, who wants to visit a drab and foul smelling chemist shop if it can be done online. The last step would be online disease management, especially for chronic ailments. As in most industries, the push towards Web in healthcare too will be driven by consumers and change in social attitudes. The desire to take charge of one's own health (if you can control your own finances, why not health) will increase the demand for better information and service. And on the Net, consumer is the ultimate winner. (Courtesy:Probity)